Musuko
by lethedrop
Summary: Character sketch: Kurama's love for his mother. He is a youkai, after all.


I don't own YuYu Hakusho and make no profit from this fanwork.

**Musuko**

It was pleasant to simply bask in Mother's presence once in a while.

Kurama sprawled on the sofa with an open book, trying to project "relaxed teenager" rather than "lazing youkai". Dinner preparations were underway, with kitchen clatter punctuating Mother's absent humming and shuffling footsteps, and the odor of baking fish overwhelmed by her unique scent.

She frequently broke into quiet chuckles. Shuuichi was completely absorbed in his new video game, and Mother found his squawks at each blare of his character's death theme endearing.

Kurama himself could find parallels between his reincarnation and a video game character's resurrection, but his choice to 'play again' had been a desperate one. He'd calculated that the price of his new life would be one worth paying, resigning himself to a tedious decade of playing "dutiful human son" before he had even selected the fetus in Mother's womb to host him.

Any woman in early pregnancy would have been acceptable, provided she'd had enough spiritual energy for an exhausted fox demon to feed upon. He hadn't drawn much; just enough to stabilize his merging with the new body. And then a little more, because he'd been so weak and she had tasted so sweet…

She was only a human, after all. Centuries ago, when the worlds had only been separated by a thin veil, humans had been easy prey--so easy that he found the puzzle of a Makai vault's wards more entertaining. Even so, whenever he had felt like a change of pace there had always been mortals around for head games and bed games, full of delicious spirit-energy for anyone who could slip in to take it

Those had been different times.

Human and youkai interaction had been common and often violent, and a woman with the spiritual strength to succor him would have been worthy of gratitude. He would have blessed her land and, had the whim taken him, perhaps imbued an _omamori_ with youki, granting her a powerful protective amulet.

He could even have spirited her away to one of his elaborate residences. She would have been free to wander grand chambers full of priceless art and jewels, clad in robes of fine silk and fed exotic delicacies, living untouched by violence, illness or even time.

On the other hand, he might simply have recovered his strength and vanished—if his true nature was never revealed, then she could not invoke his geis to reward her kindness.

It would never occur to a human of this age to invoke a geis. They had relegated enchantment to children's stories and apparitions to folklore, forgetting the ancient rules that had given them, if not equal footing, at least a hope of preserving their lives and property. Without knowing to watch for youkai around them, without knowing to bind those youkai from doing as they pleased, these people were utterly vulnerable.

Yet it was because of that ignorance that Mother, assuming him to be her natural son, treated him so. She would choose to sacrifice herself for him; it was clear in a thousand little gestures each day, and even if she didn't know the power in that, Kurama did.

Dinner smelled almost ready, and that was Mother's husband pulling into the driveway.

He padded to the kitchen and washed his hands, then grabbed the chopsticks to begin setting the table. Mother, just lifting the lid of the rice cooker to fill their bowls, paused to give him a smile. He returned it brightly.

Hatanaka clattered through the door in a wave of urban chemical reek, exchanging his shoes for slippers. "I'm home!"

"Welcome home," Kurama chorused with Mother.

She walked to the kitchen door. "Dinner will be ready in a moment."

Her husband acknowledged her cheerfully before lumbering upstairs to change.

Kurama continued his quiet assistance, and the table was spread by the time Father and Shuuichi sat down with the family.

"Itadakimasu." _We humbly accept this gift._

_- - -_

_Musuko_ is Japanese for "son."

Youkai are Japanese apparitions, somewhat like demons or fey. Youki is their power, or magic.

_Itadakimasu_ (literally the humble form of "to receive") is a way of thanking the gods, traditionally said before a meal.

- - -

Comments? Constructive criticism?


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